GHG chapter 4: Siren Town

        The system has given Bai Liu his first mission, but Bai Liu's concern is not on the quest. He looked at the words【don't be hatched】and fell deep in thought.

        ...hatch?

        Tch, so those statues can hatch them?

        Bai Liu makes a mental note. When he turns around, he is immediately met with a mermaid statue as tall as a person.

        This is the biggest mermaid statue in the room that Bai Liu can see, and also the only mermaid statue that isn't looking at Bai Liu directly.

This mermaid statue has elegant curvatures, its expression is filled with grief. It is holding a mirror that is taller than a person, and its arms are the things that are supporting it.

This is the only mermaid statue that is not looking at Bai Liu, it is looking at the mirror with melancholy, and Bai Liu is reflected in the mirror. It has its arms wrapped around the mirror as if hugging the Bai Liu that is reflected in the mirror, making Bai Lu slightly uncomfortable. The mermaid statue's expression casts on the mirror, its eyelashes are lowered and its tail lay limply on the floor, it was as if the mermaid statue is mourning for the person in the mirror. Bai Liu looks at the mirror, his 【reflection】stared back, and an eerie smile that resembles the statues appear on his face.

Bai Liu covers it with a cloth without care.

This kind of horror scene is useless to Bai Liu. He is a horror game developer in real life, for a very long time he had to recreate scary scenarios in his head until it is two or three in the morning. He is already numb to the kind of scene where the reflection in the mirror smiles back, he won't feel anything.

Seems like the tourists that Jeffery mentioned, who vanished without a trace and even whose corpses can't be found, were most likely 【hatched】by these mermaid statues.

For his own safety, Bai Liu wraps all of the mermaid statues with the white cloth that the hotel provided, including the one with the big mirror, to block off the feeling of being stared at. It might not work, but it's better than nothing. The main thing is that Bai Liu won't be able to sleep if there are so many mermaid statues looking at him anyway.

As he is covering the mirrors, his hand brushes over the tail of the mermaid statue. Its tail doesn't feel smooth like marble stones, instead, it is sticky and wet like a fish. Bai Liu can even feel the scales on its tail slithering lightly.

Bai Liu pauses, sniffing the hand he touched the statue with. He can smell the faint scent of fish lingering on his finger. Though when Bai Liu moves closer to the mermaid statue, he can only smell the perfume of the hotel room, there's no fishy scent on the statue.

Perhaps that scent came from the car...

...It's very possible that Bai Liu is the one with the scent of fish as he can connect it to how the mermaid statues can 【hatch】the tourists. Bai Liu frowns, not too fond of this feeling.

What can a mermaid statue hatch? Presumably, it is some kind of disgusting fish. The word hatch can't help but make Bai Liu think about the movie 《Mermaid in Manhole》, he watched that movie two or three times to get some ideas. After that, he doesn't hold any fantasies about mermaids being pretty anymore.

Bai Liu is already exhausted from the rude that took half of the night. He washes swiftly before laying on the bed, falling into a deep slumber. His stamina already reached its bottom, it's safer to sleep to recover his stamina.

In the middle of the night, Bai Liu is wakened up by a weird noise that sounds like something being dragged across the floor.

When he opens his eyes, the white cloth on the mermaid statues had already fallen off, and only a small portion of it hangs on the statues. Only one eye is visible from the way it is covered, their expressions somewhat changed. The god-like merciful is now filled with grudges and reconciliation, as if angry that Bai Liu shrouded them with the white sheets.

Bai Liu finds out that the statues seem to have moved closer to him when he was asleep, resembling a group of people gathering around the dinner table as they reach toward Bai Liu's bed.

Especially The mermaid statue with the huge mirror. When Bai Liu woke up drowsily, his feet is nearly touching the mirror, and the mirror is already sticking to the side of his bed. Bai Liu retracts his feet and sits up, meeting the reflection of himself in the mirror.

The complexion of the【Bai Liu】in the mirror is as pale as rocks, irises lacking black pigments. Around the eyes is the texture of marble stones, spreading out like spiderwebs. Though when Bai Liu blinks, it returned to the usual reflection of Bai Liu as if he was just hallucinating.

Bai Liu pauses, then he sits up, tying the white sheets around the mermaid statues unhurriedly and without any expression.

To prevent the mermaid statues from breaking free, Bai Liu even used ropes to tie two knots on them, then wrap the smaller mermaid statues into a bag with a white cloth. He throws them into the closet and locks the door, pushing the big statues into the bathroom and locking the door as well. Bai Liu does it so smoothly as if he is an experienced kidnapper.

These things' actions seem to have been restricted. Before Bai Liu passed out, they had not moved, it seems like they have to remove the cloth and see Bai Liu to be able to move toward him. The smaller mermaid statues that are completely covered didn't move toward his bed, they moved away from his bed instead.

After understanding this, Bai Liu instantly decides to maximize these restrictions.

As he is finishing up and dusting his hands off to prepare to go back to sleep, Bai Liu hears the sound of a door opening and closing from the room next to him, and the soft chattering of footsteps like someone is sneaking around.

Bai Liu halts as he is getting onto his bed. The rooms around him are all booked by him, the ones living in the rooms next to him are Andrew and Jeffery. To ensure his own safety (?), Bai Liu even arranged for Lucy to sleep in the room that is the furthest away from him.

The sound of the door opening and closing comes from his left side, and Jeffery sleeps in that room. Bai Liu gets up from his bed, pressing to the door and peeks out from the peephole to look at what is happening in the hallway. Jeffery is looking around him, making sure that no one is around before sneaking down the hotel's stairs.

Bai Liu frowns, what is Jeffery doing in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?

Right when he is about to open the door and follow behind him, Bai Liu saw the doorknob on the supposedly shut door turning slowly, something seems to be coming out from his room.

There should only be one person in one room.

Jeffery is the only one in his own room. There is no way that Lucy went to his room in the middle of the night; Andrew has a really bad relationship with Jeffery, and it's impossible for him to look for Jeffery at midnight; Bai Liu is in his own room.

So who is the person that's coming out from Jeffery's room?

Bai Liu's heart skips a beat as he came to a realisation, shifting back a little from the peephole so his face isn't pressing against it anymore.

What's going to come out of Jeffery's room is not human!

The door to Jeffery's room clicks, slowly opening from the inside. Bai Liu once again hears the sound of something being dragged across the floor when he was half away, it is as if something is being dragged while it is on its knees.

Bai Liu finally knows how this sound is made.

A mermaid statue that is as tall as a person comes out of Jeffery's room. Its features don't change, and no expression is apparent on its face, it is due to the completely white eyes that it looks so lifeless. Its tail is on the floor, slithering in the hallway as no one is watching. Its white heavy tail dragged itself along the worn red carpet of the hotel, moving forward without moving its limbs, reminding Bai Liu of the Chinese zombies that can only jump up and down to move forward.

...This thing can run out of a room itself, it can even open doors...

The mermaid statue that is dragging itself out of Jeffery's room is making its way toward the stairs. As if sensing something, its head suddenly turns 180 degrees, twisting its head to its back. It suddenly changes its direction, making its way toward Bai Liu expressionlessly.

Bai Liu jols up, quickly bending down behind his door and covering himself with a white cloth, leaving one eye out.

After making sure that the door is locked, Bai Liu curls up at the bottom right of the door to see what that thing wants. It doesn't take long before Bai Liu sees the peephole turning white, and it is spinning around.

That thing is using the peephole to look at the room, the twirling white thing is the statue's white eyes, it is searching for him through the peephole.

This horrifying scene is displayed on the big screen in the lobby. The people that are in front of Bai Liu's television screen are holding their breath, at the edge of biting their hands out of nervousness.

"Fuck fuck fuck, this is so scary, if I'm in the game my sanity would've dropped..."

"Come on! You can do it! The death rate of newbies in this spot is like super high!"

"It's mainly because when the player went in without knowing anything, and the monster is blocking the player's way out, there's literally no way to escape! The only way is to pinpoint its weakness."

"The monsters in Siren Town are really disgusting too, it's really hard for newbies to find this thing's weaknesses calmly..."

The new players around Bai Liu's screen are also in the same place that he is in. Some of them started earlier, and the mermaid statue is already banging on their door. One player that is next to Bai Liu is covering his ears and curling up into a ball next to the shaking door, holding a wooden stick shakily with his hands, seemingly readying himself to attack it. He lets out a scream whenever the mermaid statue bangs on his door, but there is not going to be anyone there to save him. The door to this player's room shakes twice, and then it stops. It seems like the mermaid statue outside has left.

The player that was crying wipes his tear and lets out a sigh of relief as he knows he just escaped death, pushing himself up unsteadily.

However, what he didn't see is that the peephole on the door is still white, and a marble eye that is pure white is staring at the person in the room.

The mermaid statue never left, it only pretended to leave to see if there is anyone in the room. Seeing that the player has stood up, a creepy stiff smile appears on its face as if it is satisfied that it has found its prey. The door is banged on harshly again, slamming open with ease. The player who still hasn't come back to his senses lets out a scream as he is squeezed under the door. The mermaid statue drags its hefty tail into the room, its expression is mixed with a strange innocence, gradually reaching its arms toward the player who is under the door.

The moment the mermaid statue makes contact with the player, it is as if his brain is being sucked out. His eyes roll back as his whole body convulsed, white foam leaking out from his mouth. His limbs start to shrink, and his legs are stuck together and twitching like a fish desperately trying to struggle out of the fishnet. His skin becomes pale, the texture of marble stone starts spreading out around his eyes as his irises disappear, leaving behind a pair of white eyes as his lips curve up stiffly.

【Player Yi Zhong's sanity has fallen to 0 and has been completely transformed by the mermaid statue. Game over】

【Player Liu Xiaohong's sanity has fallen to 0 and has been completely transformed by... Game over】

【Player Zhou Mingri... Game over】

The screens of the people that failed to pass the game made a static noise and dimmed down. The people that have gathered around it collectively let out a sigh.

"Sigh, I already knew that would happen. I guess there is barely going to be anyone that's gonna pass this game, it's too hard..."

It's only the first night where the monster has officially shown up, the almost one-fifth of the 【new player's area】has dimmed down. All of the television screens around Bai Liu's screen have faded, leaving Bai Liu's calm demeanour alone among these darkened screens.